Suction cleaner



H. E. HOOVER.

sucTIoN CLEANER Filed oct. 21. 1922 April 12 1927.

Patented Apr. 12, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,624,246l .PATENT OFFICE.,

HOWARD EARL HOOVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, i

TO THE HOOVER COMPANY, OF NORTHh CANTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION 0F OHIO.

sUc'rIoN CLEANER.

. Application filed October 21, 1922. Serial No. 595,900.

My invention relates in general to, suction-cleaners and in particularto that type wherein the suction-nozzle is held elevated somewhat abovethe door and the floor cov. ering being cleaned ,is held suspendedagainst the nozzle-lips byv air pressure and subjected to the action ofmeans designed to beat and sweep the same.

Prior to my invention, suction-cleaners of this type have been providedeither with a rotating element designed to both beat and sweep theHoor-covering, or with means designed exclusively to beat the same.

Where a single means is employed to both beat and sweep thefloor-covering, a sacriiice in both beating and sweeping eiliciency mustbe made in order to secure bothfunctions in a single unit, and Wheremeans designed exclusively or beating are employed, the machine can havebut very little sweeping action, which is essential in removing lint andother forms of surface litter.

An object of my invention, therefore-,is to provide a suction-cleanerequipped to both beat and sweep a floor-covering in the most efficientmanner.

With these and other objects in View my invention,` consists in the-novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described andmore particularly pointed out in the claims.

Practical forms in which my invention may be embodied are shown in theaccompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation with partsbroken away, .of a suction-cleaner embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a partial section taken on line X-X of Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 2 I have illustrated a suction cleaner comprising acasing in which is formed a suction-nozzle 10, the fan-chamber l1communicating therewith through the aperture 12 and a discharge-conduit13 leading from the fan chamber to a dust collecting bag 14.

Mounted on the casing above the fanchamber is an electric-motor 15 onthe shaft of which is mounted the fan 16 and a pulley 17 over which istraineda belt 18, preferably made of elastic material, the purpose ofwhich will be described later. The casing is supported upon four wheels19 1n such a manner that the lips of the nozzle ltween them.

opening above the floor. A

That part of the casing which forms the suction-nozzle comprises theouter end walls tures 22 and 23V which receive and act as bearings forthe beating element 24 andthe sweeping element 25 respectively.'

In this embodiment o,f my invention, the beating element is showncomposed of a body-portion 26 upon which are mounted in two helical rowsbeaters consisting of balls 27 made of metal or other suitable materialand secured to the body-portion 26 by means of rigid rods 28. Thesweeping element'I comprises a body-portion 29-upon which are mounted intwo helical rows tufts of soft bristles 30, so spaced longitudinally ofthe body portion that they allow *thev passage of the beating-balls 27through the spaces be'- 'lhis construction allows the bodies ot thebeating elements and the sweeping elements "to be mounted nearer toe'zLclh other than would be otherwise poss1 e.

Mounted on the'beating-element intermediate its ends is a pulley 31 overwhich a belt 18 .travels and by means of which the beating-element isrotated by the electricalmotor.

Mounted on each end of the body-portion 26 and situated between-theinner and outer end walls of the suction-nozzle isa spurgear 32 whichmeshes with an idler-gear rotatively mounted on the inner and outer endwalls. The idler-gear in turn Ameshes with spur-gear 34 mounted on eachend of are held a substantial .distance v20, 20,' and the inner endwalls 21, 21. The Y i inner end walls` are each provided with aperthesweeping-element 35. It will thus be seen that the beating-element andthe sweeping-element are operatively connected so that when thebeating-element is rotated by means of the motor, a correspondingrotation of the sweeping-element also takes place, and because of thetoothed gearing the fixed relative position of the beating and sweepingelements is always maintained and interference with each other isavoided.

I claim:

1. In a suction sweeper, a main casing having a suction mouth, means fordrawing a current of air through said mouth, support means maintainingthe mouth at a distance above the floor covering to be cleaned,

-in a positive angular relation.

2. In a suction sweeper, a main casing having asuction mouth, means fordrawing a current of air through said mouth, support means maintainingthe mouth at a distance above the oor covering to be cleaned, means forsweeping the floor covering, means for' vibrating the floor coveringwhile it is drawn up to the mouth by they air, the sweeping meanscomprising a rotatable'body having separated rows of sweeping elementsthereon, the vibratingmeans comprising a rotatable body having thereonrigidly mounted travel, the axes of the 'sweeping and striking bodiesseparated less than the sum of their overall radii, and means producingro- `4tation of the sweeping means and yvibrating means in positiveangular'relation.

Signed at Chicago, inthe county of Cook, and State of Illinois, thisl19th day of October, A. 13,1922.

HOWARD EARL HOOVER.

`striking membersV having fixed orbits` .of

